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Jul 18, 2019
07/19
Jul 18, 2019
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During its flight, the Galileo spacecraft returned images of the Moon. The Galileo spacecraft took these images on December 7, 1992 on its way to explore the Jupiter system in 1995-97. The distinct bright ray crater at the bottom of the image is the Tycho impact basin. The dark areas are lava rock filled impact basins: Oceanus Procellarum (on the left), Mare Imbrium (center left), Mare Serenitatis and Mare Tranquillitatis (center), and Mare Crisium (near the right edge). This picture contains...
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Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Galileo, What -- Moon, What...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2094
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Dec 1, 2018
12/18
Dec 1, 2018
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NASA
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This "family portrait," a composite of the Jovian system, includes the edge of Jupiter with its Great Red Spot, and Jupiter's four largest moons, known as the Galilean satellites. From top to bottom, the moons shown are Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The Great Red Spot, a storm in Jupiter's atmosphere, is at least 300 years old. Winds blow counterclockwise around the Great Red Spot at about 400 kilometers per hour (250 miles per hour). The storm is larger than one Earth diameter...
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Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Jupiter, What -- Io, What --...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2098
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4.8K
Apr 14, 2016
04/16
Apr 14, 2016
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Galaxies, galaxies everywhere - as far as NASA's Hubble Space Telescope can see. This view of nearly 10,000 galaxies is the deepest visible-light image of the cosmos. Called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field, this galaxy-studded view represents a "deep" core sample of the universe, cutting across billions of light-years. The snapshot includes galaxies of various ages, sizes, shapes, and colors. The smallest, reddest galaxies, about 100, may be among the most distant known, existing when the...
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Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Hubble Space Telescope (HST),...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1463
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Jul 19, 2015
07/15
Jul 19, 2015
by
NASA
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A selection of our solar system's natural satellites are shown here to scale compared to the Earth and its moon. *Image Credit*: NASA
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Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Earth, What -- Moon
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2823
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4.9K
May 14, 2015
05/15
May 14, 2015
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Still from video of Jan 19, 2012 long duration solar flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) which is expect to reach Earth on Jan 21, 2012. Credit: NASA/SDO › Link to associated news item
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Source: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/011912-flare.html
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Nov 6, 2011
11/11
Nov 6, 2011
by
NASA
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The Goddard Space Flight Center was named in honor of Dr. Robert Goddard, a pioneer in rocket development. Dr. Goddard received patents for a multi-stage rocket and liquid propellants in 1914 and published a paper describing how to reach extreme altitudes six years later. That paper, "A Method of Reaching Extreme Altitudes," detailed methods for raising weather-recording instruments higher than what could be achieved by balloons and explained the mathematical theories of rocket...
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Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Moon, Where -- Goddard Space...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1754
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The interior of a crater surrounding the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity at Meridiani Planum on Mars can be seen in this color image from the rover's panoramic camera. This is the darkest landing site ever visited by a spacecraft on Mars. The rim of the crater is approximately 10 meters (32 feet) from the rover. The crater is estimated to be 20 meters (65 feet) in diameter. Scientists are intrigued by the abundance of rock outcrops dispersed throughout the crater, as well as the crater's...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Crater, What -- Mars...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1123
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Miranda reveals a complex geologic history in this view, acquired by Voyager 2 on Jan. 24, 1986, around its close approach to the Uranian moon. At least three terrain types of different age and geologic style are evident at this resolution of about 700 meters (2,300 feet). Visible in this clear-filter, narrow-angle image are, from left: (1) an apparently ancient, cratered terrain consisting of rolling, subdued hills and degraded medium-sized craters (2) a grooved terrain with linear valleys and...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Miranda, What -- Voyager 2,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2089
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This natural color image of the limb of Triton was taken early in the morning of Aug. 25 1989, when the Voyager 2 spacecraft was at a distance of about 210,000 kilometers (128,000 miles) from the icy satellite. The largest surface features visible area about 3 miles across. The picture is a composite of images taken through the violet, green and clear filters. The image shows a geologic boundary between a rough, pitted surface to the right and a smoother surface to the left. The change between...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Voyager 2, Where -- Triton
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2145
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Cassini conducts its first close flyby of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus (en-SELL-uh-duss) at a distance of approximately 1,180 kilometers (730 miles). Enceladus is one of the most reflective objects in the solar system and its surface resembles freshly fallen snow. Cassini's flyby of Enceladus is the closest ever by any spacecraft.
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Cassini, What -- Moon, What...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=3743
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On January 3, Spirit, NASA's 400-pound rover, is scheduled to land on what may be a dried-up lake bed on Mars. "There's not much doubt: this site contained a body of liquid water, at least for some amount of time," says Jim Garvin, NASA's Lead Scientist for Mars Exploration. The site is Gusev Crater, a 90-mile wide hole in the ground that probably formed three to four billion years ago when an asteroid crashed just south of Mars' equator. There's a channel system that drains into it,...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Spirit, What -- Mars, What --...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=603
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NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has obtained the clearest pictures ever of our solar system's most distant and enigmatic object: the planet Pluto. The observations were made with the European Space Agency's Faint Object Camera. *Image Credit*: NASA and ESA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Hubble Space Telescope (HST),...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1850
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This graphic illustrates the pointing and shows the data from one of many observations made by the New Horizons Alice ultraviolet spectrometer (UVS) instrument during the Pluto-bound spacecraft's recent encounter with Jupiter. The red lines in the graphic show the scale, orientation, and position of the combined "box and slot" field of view of the Alice UVS during this observation. The positions of Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io, the torus of ionized gas from Io, and Jupiter are shown...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- New Horizons, What -- Alice...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=5003
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A widespread display of auroras erupted late Friday and into Saturday, August 5 and 6, when the August 3, 2011 double-CME hit Earth's magnetic field and sparked a G4-category geomagnetic storm. Auroras were visible in the continental U.S. in Utah, Nebraska and Colorado and in Europe as far south as England, Germany and Poland. This image was taken by Scott Lowther in Thatcher, Utah on August 6, 2011. "The auroras were just barely visible to the naked eye here in Utah as a pink glowing dome...
Source: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/news/gallery/dbl-punch-aurora.html
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This image is the most detailed picture of Dactyl, a natual satellite (moon) of asteroid 243 Ida. Dactyl was the first moon found orbiting an asteroid. NASA's Galileo spacecraft discovered the tiny moon during a 1993 flyby of Ida while en route to Jupiter. This frame captured the previously unknown moon at a range of about 3,900 kilometers (2,400 miles), just over 4 minutes before the spacecraft's closest approach to Ida. More than a dozen craters larger than 80 meters (250 feet) in diameter...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Moon, What -- Galileo, What...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=883
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The Mars 96 orbiter is assembled and ready for launch. *Image Credit*: DLR Institute of Planetary Exploration
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mars 96 Orbiter
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2584
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Venera 13 Lander image of the surface of Venus at 7.5 S, 303. E, east of Phoebe Regio. Venera 13 survived on the surface for 2 hours, 7 minutes, long enough to obtain 14 images on 1 March, 1982. This color 170 degree panorama was produced using dark blue, green and red filters and has a resolution of 4 to 5 min. Part of the spacecraft is at the bottom of the image. Flat rock slabs and soil are visible. The true color is difficult to judge because the Venerian atmosphere filters out blue light....
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Venera 13, What -- Venus
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2045
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The Leonid meteor shower on November 18, 1995, at 11:45:22 Universal Time, as seen from Henry Coe State Park, Calif. *Image Credit*: Mike Koop, California Meteor Society
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, Where -- California
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=844
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Scientists used this faint, fuzzy image to pinpoint one of three new Neptunian moons more than 4 billion km (2.8 billion miles) from the Sun. This is S/2002 N1 as seen by the 4-meter Blanco telescope at Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory in Chile.
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Sun, What -- Neptune, What --...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=137
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Galileo spacecraft atop the inertial upper stage drifts into the blackness of space after deployment from the Space Shuttle Atlantis payload bay during mission STS-34 in October 1989. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Galileo, What -- Space...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1878
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An artist's concept of Galileo passing near Jupiter's small inner moon Amalthea. Galileo flew past the tiny moon in November 2002. *Image Credit*: Michael Carroll and NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Galileo, What -- Moon
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1964
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This picture of asteroid 951 Gaspra is a mosaic of two images taken by the Galileo spacecraft from a range of 5,300 kilometers (3,300 miles), some 10 minutes before closest approach on October 29, 1991. The Sun is shining from the right; phase angle is 50 degrees. The resolution, about 54 meters/pixel, is the highest for the Gaspra encounter and is about three times better than that in the view released in November 1991. Gaspra is an irregular body with dimensions about 19 x 12 x 11 kilometers...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Galileo, What -- Sun, What --...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2087
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An artist's impression of the Stardust sample capsule drifting to Earth. For more images related to this mission, visit the Stardust Photo Gallery. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Stardust, What -- Earth
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=510
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A promontory nicknamed "Cape Verde" can be seen jutting out from the walls of Victoria Crater in this approximate true-color picture taken by the panoramic camera on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity. The rover took this picture on martian day, or sol, 1329 (Oct. 20, 2007), more than a month after it began descending down the crater walls - and just 9 sols shy of its second Martian birthday on sol 1338 (Oct. 29, 2007). Opportunity landed on the Red Planet on Jan. 25, 2004....
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Crater, What -- Panoramic...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=5763
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This animation was made with images captured by NASA's Stardust spacecraft as it flew past comet Wild 2. The spacecraft captured samples of comet dust and snapped some of the clearest images of a comet nucleus ever taken. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Stardust
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=763
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These two images from 10 days apart show that dust was removed from the panoramic camera's calibration target on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit. Spirit's panoramic camera took the picture on the left on the rover's 416th martian day, or sol, (March 5, 2005) and took the picture on the right on sol 426 (March 15, 2005). During the time in-between, other evidence of dust-lifting winds were a jump in power output by Spirit's solar arrays on sol 420 from removal of some accumulated dust, and...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Panoramic Camera, What --...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=3803
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These color maps of Jupiter were constructed from images taken by the narrow-angle camera onboard NASA's Cassini spacecraft on Dec. 11 and 12, 2000, as the spacecraft neared Jupiter during its flyby of the giant planet. Cassini was on its way to Saturn. They are the most detailed global color maps of Jupiter ever produced; the smallest visible features are about 120 kilometers (75 miles) across. The maps are composed of 36 images: a pair of images covering Jupiter's northern and southern...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Jupiter, What -- Cassini,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=4383
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The three men responsible for the success of Explorer 1, America's first Earth satellite which was launched January 31, 1958. At left is Dr. William H. Pickering, former director of JPL, which built and operated the satellite. Dr. James A. van Allen, center, of the State University of Iowa, designed and built the instrument on Explorer that discovered the radiation belts which circle the Earth. At right is Dr. Wernher von Braun, leader of the Army's Redstone Arsenal team which built the first...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Explorer 1, What -- Earth,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1566
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View of the Northern limb region on Ganymede showing the Galileo Regio region. North is to the bottom of the picture and the sun illuminates the surface from the left. The finest details that can be discerned in this picture are about 6.7 km across. The time is 8:45:09 UT on June 26, 1996. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Ganymede, What -- Galileo,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2286
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Magellan image of a nova, a radial network of grabens, in Themis Regio, Venus. There have been about 50 novae identified on Venus, which consist of closely spaced graben radiating from a central area. This nova is about 250 km in diameter, concentrated to the south. (North is up.) (Magellan C1-MIDR 30S279;1,framelet 18) *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Magellan, What -- NOVA I,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2031
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NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter passes over the planet's south polar region in this artist's concept illustration. NASA plans to launch this multipurpose spacecraft in August 2005 to advance our understanding of Mars through detailed observation, to examine potential landing sites for future surface missions and to provide a high-data-rate communications relay for those missions. The orbiter's shallow radar experiment, one of six science instruments on board, is designed to probe the...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mars, What -- Polar
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2208
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On February 24, 2007, the LEISA (pronounced "Leesa") infrared spectral imager in the New Horizons Ralph instrument observed giant Jupiter in 250 narrow spectral channels. At the time the spacecraft was 6 million kilometers (nearly 4 million miles) from Jupiter; at that range, the LEISA imager can resolve structures about 400 kilometers (250 miles) across. LEISA observes in 250 infrared wavelengths, which range from 1.25 micrometers (_m) to 2.50 _m. The three images shown above from...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- LEISA, What -- Imager, What...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=5023
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Mars 6 was one of two landers launched by the Soviet Union during the 1973 launch window. The landers were very similar in design to the Mars 2 and Mars 3 landers dispatched by the Soviets in 1971, except that the spacecraft was now composed of a flyby vehicle (instead of an orbiter) and a lander. Mars 6 completed its first midcourse correction en route to Mars on 13 August 1973. A few days later, there was a major failure in the telemetry system that transmitted scientific and operations data...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mars 2, What -- Mars 3...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=3443
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The South Pole-Aitken Basin is a prominent lunar feature in many respects. In addition to being the principal shaper of topography (top right) of the farside of the Moon, the basin floor is the primary compositional anomaly of the farside and the highlands of the Moon. The albedo map (top left) shows that the floor of the basin is markedly darker than the highlands surrounding it. Both iron (bottom left) and titanium (bottom right) concentration maps show enhanced values associated with the...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Moon, What -- Clementine
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=803
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Sunset on Mars catches NASA's proposed Mars Science Laboratory in the foreground in this artist's concept. The mission is under development for launch in 2009 and a precision landing on Mars in 2010. Once on the ground, the Mars Science Laboratory would analyze dozens of samples scooped up from the soil and cored from rocks as it explores with greater range than any previous Mars rover. It would investigate the past or present ability of Mars to support life. NASA is considering nuclear energy...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mars, Where -- Jet Propulsion...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1548
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An engineer and a technician check out an ion engine in the Electronic Propulsion Research Building at Lewis Research Center in 1961. Ion engines use electrostatic charge, something like pulling hot socks out of a clothes dryer. The electrostatic charge pushes the socks away from each other. The fuel used by this device is Xenon, a gas that is four times heavier than air. Although ion engines have been around for decades, they were not used by NASA to propel spacecraft until the late 1990s. The...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, Who -- John H. Glenn, What -- ion...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1568
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The Galileo spacecraft mounted atop the inertial upper stage (IUS) is tilted to a 58-degree deployment position by deployment equipment aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. The bluish-white glow on the left is Earth. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Galileo, What -- Space...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1876
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This partial image of the K impact represents the return of image search "jailbars" - groups of 2 lines every 80 lines. The wide gaps are filled in as more data is returned by Galileo. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Galileo
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2168
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Artist's concept of Mars Odyssey orbit insertion. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mars
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2190
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The European Space Agency's Ulysses mission logo. *Image Credit*: European Space Agency
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Ulysses
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2349
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This composite of Galileo spacecraft images of Jupiter's icy moon Callisto combines data from two orbits showing several types of impact craters. North is to the top of the picture; the Sun illuminates the surface from the east. The global image on the right shows one of the largest impact structures on Callisto, the Asgard multiring structure located near 300N latitude, 1420W longitude. The Asgard structure is approximately 1700 kilometers across and consists of a bright central zone...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Galileo, What -- Moon, What...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=833
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This artist's impression shows NASA's Mercury-bound MESSENGER spacecraft from the instrument side. The instruments on the Mercury orbiter are shielded by a ceramic cloth sunshade. *Image Credit*: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mercury, What -- MESSENGER
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=177
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President Ronald Reagan addressed NASA employees during NASA's 25th Anniversary celebration at the National Air and Space Museum, October 19, 1983. On stage, around the cake (left to right) are: astronauts Guion Bluford and Dale Gardner (hidden); Dr. William Thornton; Daniel Brandenstein; Richard Truly (hidden); James M. Beggs, NASA Administrator; Dr. Norman Thagard; President Ronald Reagan; John Fabian; Frederick Hauck; David Walker; Dr. Rhea Seddon; Ellison Onizuka; Dr. Anna Fisher; Dr....
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, Who -- Guion Bluford, Who -- Dale...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1795
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Two tall volcanic plumes and the rings of red material they have deposited onto surrounding surface areas appear in images taken of Jupiter's moon Io by NASA's Galileo and Cassini spacecraft in late December 2000 and early January 2001. One plume, from the volcano Pele, shoots upward nearly 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the surface near Io's equator. The plume has been active for at least four years and, until now, had been far larger than any other plume seen on Io. The images also show a...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Moon, What -- Io, What --...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1983
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This is a close-up of the sunset on Sol 24 as seen by the Imager for Mars Pathfinder. The red sky in the background and the blue around the Sun are approximately as they would appear to the human eye. The color of the Sun itself is not correct -- the Sun was overexposed in each of the 3 color images that were used to make this picture. The true color of the Sun itself may be near white or slightly bluish. Mars Pathfinder is the second in NASA's Discovery program of low-cost spacecraft with...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Imager for Mars Pathfinder,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2101
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Surveyor 1, the first of the Surveyor missions to make a successful soft landing on the Moon, proved design and landing techniques. In addition to transmitting over 11,000 pictures, it sent information on the bearing strength of the lunar soil, the radar reflectivity, and temperature. Surveyor 1 was launched on May 30, 1966 and landed on June 2, 1966. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Surveyor 1, What -- Moon
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2163
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JPL engineers making adjustments to Mars Exploration Rover 1. *Image Credit*: JPL
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mars Exploration Rover 1,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2193
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A composite of images from NASA's Deep Space 1 spacecraft shows features of comet Borrelly's nucleus, dust jets escaping the nucleus and the cloud-like "coma" of dust and gases surrounding the nucleus. False color is used to reveal details of the jets and coma. The images were taken when Deep Space 1 was about 4,800 kilometers (3,000 miles) from Borrelly during a Sept. 22, 2001, flyby. Borrelly's nucleus is about 8 kilometers (5 miles) from end to end, so the field of view is about 40...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Deep Space 1, What -- Sun,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2186
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Mars 2 was the first of two orbiterlander combination spacecraft sent to Mars by the Soviets during the 1971 launch window. The orbiters were roughly cylindrical structures fixed to a large propellant tank base. The landers were egg-shaped modules with petals that would open on the Martian surface. The 1,000-kilogram landers (of which 350 kilograms was the actual capsule) were fastened to the top of the bus and protected by a braking shell for entry into the Martian atmosphere. After...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mars 2, What -- Mars
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=3423
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JPL engineers examine the robotic arm of Mars Exploration Rover 1. The arm is modeled after a human arm, complete with joints, and holds four devices on its end: the Rock Abrasion Tool which can grind into Martian rocks, a microscopic imager, and two spectrometers for elemental and iron-mineral identification. *Image Credit*: JPL
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mars Exploration Rover 1,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2192
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New imaging techniques enabled Mars Global Surveyor to capture the incredibly detailed images from orbit of the Spirit Mars Exploration Rover's tracks on the surface of Mars. The orbiter entered its third mission extension in September 2004 after seven years of orbiting Mars. The spacecraft entered Mars orbit on Sept. 12, 1997. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mars Exploration Rover (MER),...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=3003
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This is what Dr. Goddard wrote in his diary for March 16, 1926, which was the day he launched the first liquid-fueled rocket. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2232
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This composite image was built up from scaling all images to 5 meters/pixel, and aligning images to fixed points. Each image at closer range, replaced equivalent locations observed at a greater distance. The impact site has the highest resolution because images were acquired until about 4 sec from impact or a few meters from the surface. Arrows a and b point to large, smooth regions. The impact site is indicated by the third large arrow. Small arrows highlight a scarp that is bright due to...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Sun
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=4043
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Only a few days after America announced its intentions to send a probe into space, Russia announced its intention to launch an Earth satellite. Left to right: Vereschetin, Mr. Sannikov-Soviet State Security; Professor Kyrill F. Ogorodikov, Astronomy, Leningrad University; Leonid Ivanovich Sedov, Specialist in mechanics, USSR Academy of Sciences. *Image Credit*: NASA History Office
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Earth, Where -- Russia
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=364
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This image of Dione was taken by Voyager 1 on November 12, 1980. It shows the Saturn-facing hemisphere. The darker trailing hemisphere is located toward the right limb, with wispy white streaks criss-crossing the surface. The plains terrain is located along the terminator. Dione was discovered in 1684 by Giovanni Cassini. It is an icy body similar to Tethys and Rhea. Its density is 1.43 grams per cubic centimeter, which makes it the densest moon of Saturn other than Titan. Dione is probably...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Dione, What -- Voyager 1,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=842
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The photo shows the "energy flash" when a projectile launched at speeds up to 17,000 mph impacts a solid surface at the Hypervelocity Ballistic Range at NASA's Ames Research Center, Mountain View, California. This test is used to simulate what happens when a piece of orbital debris hits a spacecraft in orbit. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, Where -- Ames Research Center (ARC),...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=825
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A quarter moon is visible in this oblique view of Earth's horizon and airglow, recorded with a digital still camera on the final mission of the Space Shuttle Columbia. Columbia's crew was killed on Feb. 1, 2003 when the shuttle broke up on re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Moon, What -- Space Shuttle...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1163
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This color image of the Moon was taken by the Galileo spacecraft at 9:35 a.m. PST Dec. 9, 1990, at a range of about 350,000 miles. The color composite uses monochrome images taken through violet, red, and near-infrared filters. The concentric, circular Orientale basin, 600 miles across, is near the center; the nearside is to the right, the far side to the left. At the upper right is the large, dark Oceanus Procellarum; below it is the smaller Mare Humorum. These, like the small dark Mare...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Moon, What -- Galileo, Where...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2086
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The sun and its atmosphere consist of several zones or layers. From the inside out, the solar interior consists of the core, the radiative zone, and the convection zone. The solar atmosphere is made up of the photosphere, the chromosphere, a transition region, and the corona. Beyond the corona is the solar wind, which is actually an outward flow of coronal gas. The sun's magnetic fields rise through the convection zone and erupt through the photosphere into the chromosphere and corona. The...
Source: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/sunearth/multimedia/Sunlayers.html
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This sprawling look at the martian landscape surrounding the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit is the first 3-D stereo image from the rover's navigation camera. A surface depression nicknamed "Sleepy Hollow" can be seen to center left of the image. Scientists theorize that this topographic feature, measuring about 10 meters (30 feet) in diameter and located approximately 10 to 20 meters (30 to 60 feet) away from Spirit, is either an impact crater or a product of wind-erosion. See more...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Mars Exploration Rover (MER),...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=663
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A parachute for the Galileo spacecraft's atmospheric entry probe is tested in a wind tunnel at NASA's Langley Research Center in Virginia. Galileo consisted of an orbiter and an atmosphere probe that descended into Jupiter's atmosphere on a parachute after being slowed down by a heat shield. The probe entered Jupiter's atmosphere on Dec. 7, 1995. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Galileo, Where -- Langley...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1284
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Red and green colors predominate in this view of the Aurora Australis photographed from the Space Shuttle in May 1991 at the peak of the last geomagnetic maximum. The payload bay and tail of the Shuttle can be seen on the left hand side of the picture. Auroras are caused when high-energy electrons pour down from the Earth's magnetosphere and collide with atoms. Red aurora occurs from 200 km to as high as 500 km altitude and is caused by the emission of 6300 Angstrom wavelength light from oxygen...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Space Shuttle Orbiter, What...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=3183
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Jupiter casts a baleful eye toward the moon Ganymede in this enhanced-contrast image from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. Jupiter's "eye', the Great Red Spot, was captured just before disappearing around the eastern edge of the planet. The furrowed eyebrow above and to the left of the spot is a turbulent wake region caused by westward flow that has been deflected to the north and around the Red Spot. The smallest features visible are about 240 kilometers (150 miles) across. Within the band...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Jupiter, What -- Moon, What...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=2156
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Earth and its Moon are nicely framed in this image taken from the aft windows of the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998. Discovery - on mission STS-95 - was flying over the Atlantic Ocean at the time this image was taken. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Earth, What -- Moon, What --...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1752
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*Jupiter* Jupiter's composition is mainly hydrogen and helium. In contrast to planetary bodies covered with a hard surface crust (the Earth, for example), the jovian surface is gaseous-liquid, rendering the boundary between the atmosphere and the planet itself almost indistinguishable. Below the roughly 1000-kilometer-thick atmosphere, a layer of liquid hydrogen extends to a depth of 20,000 kilometers. Even deeper, it is believed that there is a layer of liquid metallic hydrogen at a pressure...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Earth, What -- Jupiter, What...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=166
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As Spirit descended onto Mars' surface on Jan. 3, 2004 it performed a series of entry, descent and landing actions, leaving visible marks on the surface of Mars. This "path" of Spirit's descent can be seen labeled in this image. This image is a composite of images taken by the camera on Mars Global Surveyor and Spirit's descent image motion estimation system camera. *Image Credit*: NASA
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Spirit, What -- Mars Global...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=1063
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Asteroids are material left over from the formation of the solar system. One theory suggests that they are the remains of a planet that was destroyed in a massive collision long ago. More likely, asteroids are material that never coalesced into a planet. In fact, if the estimated total mass of all asteroids was gathered into a single object, the object would be less than 1,500 kilometers (932 miles) across, less than half the diameter of our Moon. The asteroid belt lies in the region between...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Moon, What -- Mars, What --...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=850
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The Giotto space probe, launched in 1985 on an Ariane 1 V14 launcher, brushed past the hidden nucleus of Halley's comet in 1986. *Image Credit*: European Space Agency
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Giotto
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=583
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This is New Horizons' best image of Ganymede, Jupiter's largest moon, taken with the spacecraft's Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) camera at 10:01 Universal Time on February 27 from a range of 3.5 million kilometers (2.2 million miles). The longitude of the disk center is 38 degrees West and the image scale is 17 kilometers (11 miles) per pixel. Dark patches of ancient terrain are broken up by swaths of brighter, younger material, and the entire icy surface is peppered by more recent...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- New Horizons, What --...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=5123
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This computer-generated view of the Pwyll impact crater on Jupiter's moon Europa was created using images taken by the Galileo spacecraft's camera when the spacecraft flew past that moon on February 20 and December 16, 1997, during its sixth and twelfth orbits of Jupiter. Images of the crater taken from different angles on the different orbits have been combined to generate a model of the topography of Pwyll and its surroundings. This simulated view is from the southwest at a 450 angle, with...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Crater, What -- Moon, What --...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=838
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Located in a rugged, heavily timbered area of the Canadian Shield in Quebec Province, Manicouagan Reservoir is impressive in this low-oblique, west-looking photograph. The reservoir, a large annular lake, marks the site of an impact crater 100 kilometers wide. Formed almost 212 million years ago when a large meteorite hit Earth, the crater has been worn down by many advances and retreats of glaciers and other processes of erosion. The reservoir is drained at its south end by the Manicouagan...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Crater, What -- Earth, What...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=792
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The above is a mosaic of about 750 Clementine images of the north pole of the Moon, from 800N to the pole (center). The nearside of the Moon is the bottom half of this mosaic, and the top half is the farside. In contrast to the south pole, the north pole shows very little area in permanent shadow (only about 500 square kilometers). This suggests that any cold traps in this region of the Moon are very restricted and little ice could be stable in this part of the Moon. *Image Credit*: Clementine...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Clementine, What -- Moon
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=801
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The New Horizons Long Range Reconnaissance Imager (LORRI) took this 4-millisecond exposure of Jupiter and two of its moons at 01:41:04 UTC on January 17, 2007. The spacecraft was 68.5 million kilometers (42.5 million miles) from Jupiter, closing in on the giant planet at 41,500 miles (66,790 kilometers) per hour. The volcanic moon Io is the closest planet to the right of Jupiter; the icy moon Ganymede is to Io's right. The shadows of each satellite are visible atop Jupiter's clouds; Ganymede's...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- New Horizons, What -- Long...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=5223
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Cassini captures the first high-resolution glimpse of the bright trailing hemisphere of Saturn's moon Iapetus. This false-color mosaic shows the entire hemisphere of Iapetus (1,468 kilometers, or 912 miles across) visible from Cassini on the outbound leg of its encounter with the two-toned moon in Sept. 2007. The central longitude of the trailing hemisphere is 24 degrees to the left of the mosaic's center. Also shown here is the complicated transition region between the dark leading and bright...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- Cassini, What -- Moon, What...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=5683
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Artist's impression of the New Horizons spacecraft encountering a Kuiper Belt object. The Sun, more than 4.1 billion miles (6.7 billion kilometers) away, shines as a bright star embedded in the glow of the zodiacal dust cloud. Jupiter and Neptune are visible as orange and blue "stars" to the right of the Sun. Although you would not actually see the myriad other objects that make up the Kuiper Belt, they are shown here to give the impression of an extensive disk of icy worlds beyond...
Topics: Solar System Exploration, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Planets, What -- New Horizons, What -- Sun,...
Source: http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/multimedia/display.cfm?IM_ID=544
